Who was the First School Named After? And 20 Other Facts About Hermantown – Our Town

We are learning a lot about the city of Hermantown this week including a new song, now it's time to learn some more. Specially prepared for the 'Our Town' feature, the Hermantown Historical Society shares more fun facts about Hermantown.

• A single room school was built in 1904 and named after President Andrew Jackson.

• They taught in the one-room school when the township built a larger two room in 1913. They paid $ 27.00 for the new structure.

• The corner of the Miller Trunk Highway and Lavaque Rd. (currently the Hermantown Square and Hermantown Credit Union) was referred to as the "Jackson Corner" during the 1920’s – 1940’s.

• The "Jackson Farmer’s Club" was formed by a group of local residents on December 26^th, 1920.

• A company from Pennsylvania began building a two lane truck highway and the name of the road was changed from Swan Lake to Miller Trunk Highway.

• The "Jackson Corner" was the first bus stop for the first passenger bus that traveled on the first paved highway in Northern Minnesota. It connected Duluth with the Range towns.

• The "Jackson Farmer’s Club" organized a baseball team in 1915. The team was called the Tigers.

• Fine young people from the Jackson 4-H Club received 1^st place at the State Fair in 1928, for their sheep project.

• The Otto Nelson family built the Cash Grocery Store on "Jackson Corner" in 1922. They also added a family restaurant in 1922. In the 1930’s there was a feed store.

• On the North side of the Jackson Corner, Gil Erickson operated a gas station, tavern and ice cream parlor.

• On September 10, 1934, two-thousand people attended the 1^st Rural Track meet in the U.S. The field was located on the Jackson School property.

• The Duluth Chamber of Commerce applied for a Government settlement in 1934. This housing project was named after the Jackson School because it was to be built close to the Jackson Corner and School Site.

• The first Superintendent, Kenneth Kellet fought to get the high school out of Proctor and moved to Hermantown.

• The first graduation class was in 1942.

• Hermantown was 36 square miles; the airport was annexed to provide a liquor license for the airport lounge.

• The first edition of the Jackson Project history has been written and published and is on sale now.

• Hermantown became a city because of fear that the city of Duluth was about to annex a large part of Hermantown.

• The logging railroad built in 1900, goes through Hermantown middle-school and is on an angle under the Hermantown Hockey Arena.

• Did you know that Hermantown Administration Building was originally a locker plant? The locker plant started in 1943 and in operation until 1965. Used by the school since 1967 to the present.

• Travel into Hermantown off Midway Road and onto Maple Grove Road is one of the community’s most iconic buildings. Did you know that it’s the original church built in 1904 and is still being used today? (One of the few buildings to escape the 1918 fire)

• Did you know that a railroad ran right through the middle of Hermantown in 1902, it was called Brooks-Scanlon Line.

Submitted by Robert Levander and the Hermantown Historical Society